For over three decades, Bill Brown brought his creativity, innovative spirit and passion for helping students to classrooms in the Warren County R-III School District. At the conclusion of the …
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Brown retires after 30 years
Posted
By Derrick Forsythe, Record Staff Writer
For over three decades, Bill Brown brought his creativity, innovative spirit and passion for helping students to classrooms in the Warren County R-III School District.At the conclusion of the 2016-17 school year he retired. He had spent 30 years as a full-time teacher and the last five serving part time. With the district wanting to make his position a full-time curriculum area again, he stepped down to make way for new leadership and energy. Brown was the longest-tenured of the six R-III employees to retire this year. His career began as a general shop teacher in the junior high, before it was named Black Hawk Middle School.“I taught in a tiny classroom, and we built the program up as we went along,” said Brown. “I trained myself in almost everything I’ve done.”Brown says he tried to keep the classes interesting for students by not strictly following the curriculum but allowing room for creativity. He was continually looking for new ways to advance the program and keep up with technology.“I ended up rewriting a lot of the curriculum because I wanted to make it our own instead of straight out of the package,” said Brown.Those modern-day breakthroughs really began to take form in Brown’s classroom when he made the move to the high school in 1997.“That’s when we started the tech lab,” said Brown, who had 18 different stations from various trades from residential wiring to lathe and mill.“In 2000, it was a high-tech program, but the district wasn’t able to keep up with the price needed to maintain it.”They even had what Brown calls a “sophisticated robot.”It was in 2000 that Brown made his complete conversion to the high school, replacing his longtime mentor Don Bradshaw. Meanwhile, one of Brown’s former students, Darren Toebben, took over his vacated role at the middle school.Toward the latter portion of his career Brown continued to look for ways to innovate and decided to integrate an audio and visual package to his course offerings. He created the AV class to teach students how to record and edit video and audio packages.“We started with one computer and one camera and grew from there,” said Brown. “At its best, it was truly an awesome class.”The program helped students discover their passion and sent them on to promising careers in St. Louis and even Hollywood.“One of the greatest rewards of teaching was being able to set up a curriculum that could really impact kids and let them know about career fields available to them,” said Brown. “I think that’s hard for most programs to do, but with industrial arts we were able to teach kids how to use tools and their hands.”Over the course of his career, Brown had 7,000 students pass through his classroom. He learned how to teach students from all backgrounds and ability levels, including special education and deaf students.“To me, it has been an honor and pleasure to teach,” said Brown. “I never really considered going anywhere else.”Even in retirement, Brown says he will look for opportunities to work part time in the same trades he taught for so long. He also plans to continue making an impact on education in the community.“One of my ambitions has always been to serve the district on the school board so I’m considering going for that in the future,” said Brown.In the meantime, he is spending more time with his grandson and may venture to his property in Texas County that he calls his “getaway.”
Bill Brown, a teacher at Warrenton High School, is retiring after being in the district for 30 years. Record photo/Derrick Forsythe.
